WELCOMING THE LAUNCH OF HEY FIT MAMA

What I really love about pregnancy and childbirth is that it isn’t a condition. I think it’s beautiful and wonderful what our bodies are designed to do, and working with women during these life-stages is something I am passionate about.

Exercising throughout pregnancy is safe and recommended but many mothers don’t know the best way to go about it. After working in Women's Health for many years, I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to help women keep strong or return to their desired fitness levels. All it took was one conversation for me to realise though that not everyone has the same access to Health Professionals with this information. Not everyone has medical benefits or health insurance and some don't live in areas where they can easily find the right care and advice. This realisation is what inspired me to write the Hey Fit Mama program.

A little bit about me

As many of my readers already know, I'm a passionate Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, but my journey didn't start there. In fact, it began in the area of Women's health when I was studying my Bachelor degree at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Over the four year degree I often wondered what type of Physio I would become? It wasn’t until my final year that it all became clear. I was completing an elective rotation in Women’s Health on a maternity ward and I simply fell in love with my work. After graduation, I continued working in Women’s Health—conducting pregnancy exercise classes, running mums and babies programs, and continuing to work in the maternity ward. Even after I made the transition to private practice, I continued to work in this field, focusing on pregnancy-related pelvic girdle and back pain, and many other musculoskeletal injuries. I feel like I've had the best of both worlds - Women's Health and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy. As a result, for many years now I’ve been designing individualised exercise programs and Pilates programs for pregnancy and after childbirth.

So it is with great excitement that I write this week about the launch of my new program Hey Fit Mama.

Yes, Hey Fit Mama is a workout plan but I really hope it serves as more than that.

While I’m not a mum quite yet, I believe that pregnancy is a beautiful miracle and that women need to take care of their bodies during this time. I wanted to compile all the ideas and exercises I’ve developed over the years to help women and mums integrate safe, strong exercises into their everyday life.

It’s a program that will teach women the foundations of exercise even if they have no background in exercise or haven’t done these exercises before. It's a ongoing conversation and each week begins with a brief chat where I share my ideas about each workout plan, introduce new exercises and give time frames for achieving fitness goals.

What does Hey Fit Mama offer?

Hey Fit Mama is so much more than a workout plan. The program begins with education, something that is strongly embedded in the way I teach exercise and design programs. The exercise component of this program is designed to be completed at home and there is an extensive exercise glossary to help women learn about my approach to fitness.

There are two workout programs; pregnancy and post-pregnancy. Each of these programs consists of 16 weeks of graded exercises and within each week there are 3 different 30 minute workout plans. In total Hey Fit Mama has 88 individualised workout routines.

All you need to complete these workouts is a fit ball, free weights, theraband, yoga mat and the internet. The program is accessible on laptop, iPad and mobile devices.

Here is a sneak peak at the layout of the pages...

This is a preview of one of the workouts in week 22 of the pregnancy program. Week 22 is one of the open access workout weeks so you can see the other programs on this page.

WHO IT IS DESIGNED FOR?

Hey Fit Mama is a program offering a variety of workouts for women with healthy and uncomplicated pregnancies and birthing experiences.

The pregnancy program commences at 20 weeks and continues through to 36 weeks gestation.

While these timeframes are a guideline, it doesn't exclude women in the early stages of pregnancy or mothers getting back into exercise after 4 months. The program is not designed to replace or substitute for medical and health advice. While the programs are based on my clinical knowledge and experience, Hey Fit Mama is not a treatment tool designed for women with pain conditions such as pelvic girdle pain.

What I hope it achieves.

Hey Fit Mama was written to feel like a conversation. One that continues for 8 months. So if you were my client and we were on the journey together, what would I say, what would I teach you, what programs would I recommend?

Based on this design, I welcome the opportunity to work alongside many women, to build a community of fitter mothers, while providing access to workout programs in the comfort of their home.

My mission is to encourage you/mothers/women to learn, to get out there and exercise, to feel empowered and to build strength, stamina and stability.

Where can you find it?

Click on the link above to go to the program or follow Hey Fit Mama on social media through twitter @heyfitmama and instagram @heyfitmama_

How can you help?

As I mentioned above, this program is something I feel very passionate about, not because of the time and knowledge I've invested in creating it, but because of who I want it to reach. This program is designed to give straight to mums and also as an additional tool to complement pre-natal education classes. I hope it is accessible to both women directly and health professionals, so I'd love you to share it with anyone in your network who you feel would benefit.

If you have any further questions about the program, or if you are a health professional and would like me to send you postcards for you to give to your clients, please send me a message through the blog.

Thanks for the support and I'm excited to see what 2016 holds for Hey Fit Mama.